Apparatus for coiling material.



w. R. WEBSTER. APPARATUS FOR COILING MATERlAL.

1 APPLICATION FILED JUNE 29,1914. 1,29,35W Y Patented June 12, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

lllllll Illll lfll W. R. WEBSTER.

- APPARATUS FOR comma MATERiAL.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 29. I914.

mwam. Patented June 12, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- UNrrED STATES PATENT curios.

WILLIAM It. WEBSTER, OF BRIDG-EPORT, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO BRIDGEPORT BRASS COMPANY, OF BRIDGEPOBT, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

APPARATUS FOR COILING- MATERIAL.

Specification of Letters Iatent.

Patented June 12, 1917.

Original application filed January 9, 1913, Serial No. 741,074. Divided and this application filed .Tune 29,

1914. Serial No. 847,979.

. To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM R. WnBsTnR, a citizen of the United States, residing 1n the city of Bridgeport, county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Coiling Material, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to an improved apparatus for coiling material in the form of strips, bars, rods and the like, the present application being a division of my application, Serial No. 741,074, filed January 9, 1913. The invention refers more especially to the coiling or blocking of brass or other non-magnetic strips or bars of various gages as said strips or bars emerge from the rolling mill.

In the art of cold rolling bars, strips or sheets, it has been customary to employ a coiling device known as a block for winding ulp the strip as it emerges from the rolls.

eretofore it has been the common practice to employ a power driven rotary drum or block on which the strip of metal leaving the rolls is coiled by manual manipulation.

- lhis manipulation not only requires a high degree of skill and strength on the part of the operative but it is also dangerous, inasmuch as the fingers of the operative are extremely likely to be caught between the strip and the rotating block, thereby causing serious injury. It has been attempted to avoid this drawback by .stopping the rolls after the strip has passed through them sufiiciently far to engage the surface of the block or drum, and securing the strip in a slot or other device on the surface of the block, after which the rolls are again started up and power is applied to the block or drum to efl'ect the coiling. In other instances the strip has been coiled on the block by automatic devices in the nature of mechanically operated fingers which coil the strip on the block by. movements similar to those of the hands of the operative when the coiling is done manually. Both of these last descrlbed methods are nearly as objgectionable as the manual coiling, for the first is extravagant in time and labor, and the second necessitates the use of complicated and very expensive apparatus.

The primary object of the present invention is to avold all of the above mentioned defects by providing anew method of coiling which is very safe, simple and efficient, and which is applicable to the coiling of non-magnetic as well as magnetic material. It is also aimed to furnish a blocker for carrying out the improved method, which blocker is of comparatively simple, inexpensive construction. My improved blocker is of the electromagnetic type, the drum or block proper being provided with a magnet or magnets which may be energized at the proper time to cause the material to be held against the surface of the rotating drum or block so as to be coiled thereon. The block or drum can be magnetized and demagnetized by the operation of a suitable electric switch, and it is not necessary ,for the operative to place his hands in dangerous proximity to the block.

Another object of my invention is to provide an electro-magnetic apparatus for coiling material of either magnetic or nonmagnetic nature, in which the coiling drum or block is magnetized and demagnetized attraction is no longer necessary, 6. 9. when tially completed.

To these and other ends, my invention consists in the novel features and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation of apparatus embodying my invention, the strip being shown ina position in which it has not yet reached the coiling drum or block, and the controlling switch being open;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the appathe formation of the coil has been substanelevation of magnetic carrier.

Referring to the drawings, 10 indicates a stand having rolls 11, 12 for reducing or otherwise working a strip 13, such as a strip of brass or other non-magnetic metal. The rolls 11, 12 are driven by suitable means, suchas an electric motor 10*. The strip 13 passes from the roll-stand 10 to a power-operated coiling drum or block 14 rotated by means such' as an electric motor 14*. This block comprises a cylinder having one or more electro-magnets, as illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 4. The block is provided with a commutator 15, by means of which current is furnished to the electro-magnets, through brushes 16 and 17 connected. with the leads 18 and 19 respectively, of a suitable magnet-ener 'zing c1rcuit, including a generator or ot er source of current (not shown). One of the leads 'of the ci'rcuit '18, 19, for instance the lead 19, is normally interrupted by means of a gap between adjacent contacts 20 and 21. The magnetizing circuit is adapted to be opened and closed automatically by means of a solenoid switch 22 of an appropriate form, adapted .to connect and disconnect thecontacts 20,21. I have not attempted to show in the drawings a'commercial form of solenoid switch, as the invention will be more clearly understood from a diagrammatic illustration. In the example shown,

the solenoid switch 22 comprises a coil 23* having the usual core 24 normally held out of the coil by means such as a spring 25. The core 24 carries a contact 26 adapted to bridge the contacts 20 and 21 when the core is drawn :into the coil by energizing the latter, but normally the contact piece or bridge 26' of' the switchwill be held away from the contacts-20, 21, as shown in Fig. 1. The coil23'of the solenoid'is connected with the commutator 15 by means of a lead 27 and brush 28, and it is also connected by means .of. a .lead 29-with a battery 30, or other source of current, and with a part Which is in electrical communication with the metal strip as the latter passes to the block'14. In the form shown, the lead 29 is connected with the lower roll 12 by means of a brush 31, whereby the stand 10 and the stri 13 are included in the controlling circuit avmg the switch 22. The drum or block 14 is suitably insulated from, the roll"- away from the block.

stand 10, and normally the controlling circuit is interrupted by the ga between said parts. However,.when the orward end of the strip 13 emerging from the rolls reaches a certain definite position, electrical communication will be established between the and the switch 22 will be strip and drum,

manner hereinautomatically closed, in the after described.

Associated with the drum or block 14 is a suitable clamp or carrier 37 of magnetic material adaptedto conform to'the block. The carrier may consist of a flat steel plate, or the like, which is sufficiently flexible to conform and adhere closely to the surface of the magnetized block as the carrier is attracted to and carried around the latter. The block is preferably mounted above the plane of the strip issuing from the mill, and the carrier is located beneath the block with one edge of the carrier supported on a presser roll 38,

'14. The opposite edge of the carrier is supdirectly beneath the block ported in front of the presser roll by means ofa portion of the frame 39 in which the presser roll is .journaled. This frame 39 is fulcrumed intermediate of its ends at 40 and carries counter-Wei hts 41, at the side opposite the roll 38, whlch counterweights tend to hold the presser roll in contact with the block 14. The position of the presser roll is regulated by means of a set screw 42, so that it may be held .a. slight distance The operation of the improved apparatus as carried out in coiling a strip of brass, or other non-magnetic material, is substantially as follows: Normally, the magnetic circuityi. e., the circuit including the magnet or magnets of the block 14 and the leads 18 an. 19, will be interrupted by the action of the spring 25,, or its equivalent, acting on the solenoid core 24 and holding the contact 26 out of cooperation with the contacts 20 and 21. The controlling circuit, 2'. 6., the circuit including the battery 30, or

' other source of electricity, and the solenoid coil 23, will also be interrupted. In the operation of'rolling 'the strip by the rolls 0 the stand 10, both of these circuits. will be open (the block 14 being demagnetized) until the forward end of the strip moves into contact with the carrier 37 which is supported in contact with the block, substantially as shown in Fig. 1. The block 14 is rotated by its motor 14 at a surface speed approximately equal to that of the rolls 11, 12. As soon as the strip is guided or conducted'into contact with the carrier which, in turn, contacts with the block, the gap between the insulated roll-stand and the block will be closed by the strip itself,

thereby closing the controlling circuit and energizing 20 and 21. Thls, in turn, closes the the solenoid to connect the conmagnetic circuit and energizes the magnet or magnets of the block 14. The carrier 37 is then instantly attracted to the rotating block in such a manner as to confine the forward end portion of the strip between the carrier and the block so that as the carrier is carried around by the block by magnetic attraction, the strip, in turn, is carried around with the block by the clamping effect of the carrier on the strip, as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 5. As the block continues to rotate a complete layer is wrapped onto the block, and the coiling then proceeds in the usual manner, as shown in Fig. 3, the presser roll 38 being held in contact with the strip by the counter-weights 41 so that the strip is pressed against the block to form a smooth, tight coil. As the strip continues to emerge from the rolls 11, 12, it will be wound tightly on the block 14, the presser roll 38 being moved downward away from the block as the diameter of the coil continues .to increase, as will be understood. In the-form of apparatus shown, the magnetization of the block continues until the coiling operation is substantially complete. The block must obviously be demagnetized before the metal coil can be removed from it, and in the case illustrated the demagnetization is efl'ected automatically as .the rear end of the strip passes out of con tact with the rolls 11, 12. This breaks the controlling circuit, whereupon the solenoid switch is actuated to break the magnetic circuit in an obvious manner. The coil on the block may then be removed in the usual manner, and the apparatus will then be ready for coiling-another strip.

In the form shown, contact between the carrier and the block is effected prior to the coiling operation proper by means of a lip 43 on one end of the carrier, which lip extends into contact with the surface of the rotating block, as shown in Fig. 5. This lip also forms a pocket which receives the for ward edge of the strip and confines the strip more effectively in place between the carrier and block. However, the lip is not an essential part of the carrier or clamping member, and the form of carrier as a whole may be varied widely from that disclosed as required by different conditions. The strip may be directed toward and onto the carrier by means of a guide, such as is well lmown in the art, or it may be carried by hand into the desired position relative to the carrier and block. It is obvious that the magnetic circuit can be controlled manually, if desired, instead of automatically, and

that the invention is not restricted to the coiling of metal in the form of sheets or strips, or to the coiling of metal issuing from a rolling mill. Various modifications in these and other respects may be adopted within the scope of my invention as ex pressed in the claims.

What I claim is 1. In an automatic blocker, a block, means to magnetize the same, and a flexible carrier which wraps around the block when the sameis magnetized and confines the nonmagnetic material between the carrier and block; substantially as described.

'2. In an automatic blocker, the combination of a block, means to magnetize the same, a flexible carrier of magnetic material adapted to wrap around the block, and means to support said carrier in proximity to the block; substantially as described.

3. In an automatic blocker, the combination of a block, means to magnetize the same, a flexible carrier of'magnetic material adapted to wrap around the block, and means to support the carrier in proximity to the block, including a presser element which presses the carrier against the'block; substantially as described. v

4. In an automatic blocker, the combination of a block, means to magnetize the same, a flexible carrier of magnetic material adapted towrap around the block, and

means to support the carrier in. proximity to the block, including a presser element which presses the carrier against the block, said carrier and said presser element when in the starting position being located beneath the block so that the strip to be coiled feeds over said carrier in passing toward the lower part of the block; substantially as describe 5. In an automatic blocker, the combination of a rotary block, a carrier, a presser element supporting said' carrier in contact with the block at the .lower part thereof so that the advancing strip in being fed toward the lower portion of the block will move over said carrier, and electroma etic means for clamping the strip tothe lock by means of said carrier automatically controlled by contact of the forward end of the strip with said carrier; substantially as described.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand on the 26th day of-June, 1914. WILLIAM R. WEBSTER. Witnesses:

W. H. DoNNmc, A. B. LYFORD. 

